Most young people in the region want to have children, shows new data published for World Population Day – but serious obstacles stand in their way.
Florence Bauer
What is stopping young people from having the children they want? The data map out a strict social sequence widely shared across the region: Decent employment must come before independent housing, independent housing must come before a stable partnership, a stable partnership must come before parenthood.
When one link in this chain is missing, each subsequent life event gets postponed or suspended. For many, this means parenthood is delayed or remains out of reach altogether. The new data shows that financial insecurity is viewed as the primary barrier to both partnership and parenthood. This is followed by a lack of affordable housing, health challenges, difficulty finding the right partner, and concerns about the uneven distribution of childcare and housework.
Demographic policies have leaned toward offering short-term financial incentives, often coupled with rhetoric encouraging women to have more babies.
The new data helps explain why these approaches are failing. For a young adult struggling to find a stable job, a decent place to live, or a suitable partner willing to share the care burden, cash incentives fall flat. They simply do not address the systemic barriers along the long road to parenthood.
At UNFPA, we support governments in understanding these dynamics and putting in place the policies and programmes young people need to realise their ambitions – from life skills education to family planning, from family support policies that benefit both men and women to addressing harmful gender norms and sharing the unpaid care burden.
Far from turning their backs on family life, our region’s young people simply do not see the necessary conditions in place to achieve their goals. We can view this as a challenge, but it is also a tremendous opportunity. Young people do not need to be convinced to care about family; they already do. They just need an environment that allows them to act on that care.
If we listen to them, fix the broken links in their life journeys, and support them in realising their goals, we can unlock the boundless potential of an optimistic, committed generation ready to build our collective tomorrow.
Florence Bauer is the Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.
